ABSTRACT
Sendero does not see itself as a terrorist organization, but rather as a revolutionary movement fully engaged since 1980 in a people’s war. Actions that others call terrorist, Shining Path militants justify as a necessary part of a long-term struggle to take power in a country in which the élites have always violently exploited peasants and workers. By
labeling the movement terrorist and by emphasizing counter-terrorism in its response, the government may well be playing into Sendero’s hands. Its actions make the peasantry more fearful of authority; provoke local, national and international revulsion against the government; and foster conditions that contribute to the generalization of violence in Peru by provoking others on the Left and the Right to carry out their own terrorist actions.1
